Lotus APX...

Supposedly unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show... I know it's only a concept car... and given it's over 1,000 lbs lighter than other cars of the same size it still harkens to the lightness moto... but.... 4-doors?

https://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/24/lotus-apx-concept-unveiled/

kind of makes me think of a Pontiac Vibe or Toyota Matrix ... on 'roids... with its 300HP V6 and all-wheel-drive ....

Looks like a ford focus with very limited rear visibility - ewwwwwww. What the heck were they thinking? And it's a small car and weights nearly 3500 pounds? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

Who the heck at Lotus thought this was a good idea? The Lotus designed 300hp v-6 I like, as well as the 4wd platform. But man what'd they do hook up with some other automaker?

Please please please Lotus... Don't make this car!
You can do so much better! Stick with the niche sportscar market! Don't wind up like AMC!

Someone forward this to Lotus Group please!

now that I've read the article more thoroughly.... I've found that this 'concept' vehicle isn't meant to indicate the direction of the company. Rather, it's meant to demonstrate the versitility of Lotus's new VVA (Lotus Versatile Vehicle Architecture) technology. Which, seems rather interesting to say the least...

[ QUOTE ]
The great advantage of this technology is that it can be used by one OEM looking to develop a range of niche products, or by a group of OEMs looking to share investment, but still retain a high degree of end product separation.

[/ QUOTE ]
I've interpreted what I've read as them having devised a method to modularize the chassis in order to lighten, strengthen, and make a typical chassis a lot more configurable to allow for greater dis-similarities between vehicles built on the same platform than was previously possible.

At the very bottom of the article the list 3 example "VVA Families". Each family represents a core chassis as we would normally think. Using a chassis based on VVA technology they're able to create Front engine Rear Drive, Mid engine Rear Drive, Front engine Front drive, and Front engine AWD cars all from the same core chassis. Really cool stuff ... I might even go as far as to say it's .... exciting technology... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Sounds familliar... Remeber all the stuff Chrysler was toutin with the neon/stratus chassis? Never seen anything but the PT cruiser come from that exercise. And no - they didn't limit production enough to keep an interest in it.

Looks like a Mazda.

- Doug

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif
the back window especially looks like a Mazda logo.

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds familliar... Remeber all the stuff Chrysler was toutin with the neon/stratus chassis? Never seen anything but the PT cruiser come from that exercise...

[/ QUOTE ]
The Neon/PT chassis is nothing more than a common stamped steel unibody, more developed than their previous Chrysler offerings but nothing unusual.

Lotus’ VVA architecture is a radically different modular structural component/fabrication system similar to the chassis system Ford uses in the GT, Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage.


PC.

Hmmmm... After reading that.... It still sounds familliar.

...But adapting a one design chassis so it can be everything to every car group sounds reall cheap to me (but very efficient and marketable too - alot like the original neon concepts that never happened)

Lotus' R&D has been involved for years with a number of other manufacturers; Isuzu, and Chevy ~Corvette~ to name two. It pays the bills. This VVA concept is so versatile as to offer a number of variants to make Mazda *drool*! And what's the Preis weigh? How does it compare to this concept car with regards performance/handling/mileage? FWIW I think ALL the "mini-SUV" type vehicles are butt-ugly, so making one that can dance like this one would is a giant leap in design/engineering progress. That it's so versatile as to be applicable to a "family" of cars across a wide range ("FAMILY A") should cash Lotus up well enough that we could actually see them re enter F-1... I'm all for hiring out expertise. The "skins" are secondary, as is the "badge"...

"Under that dumb lookin' exterior is a hybrid: A Lotus engineered performance sportscar."

If this gets to a point of production, it wouldn't matter which company badged it, I want a franchise. Chapman ain't spinnin'... he's gigglin' hysterically.

world domination from behind the scenees, eh Doc? .... just kinda sneaks up on the world... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

does this thing have a Lotus baddge. Looks to be just a concept built by Lotus. That I'm ok with but if Lotus ever produced an SUV ...

[ QUOTE ]
...But adapting a one design chassis so it can be everything to every car group sounds reall cheap to me (but very efficient and marketable too - alot like the original neon concepts that never happened)

[/ QUOTE ]
That's the whole point VVA isn't one chassis design. It's a scalable methodology based on a combination of technologies.

I Kind'a works something like this:

Let's say you're a member of a tribe that needs a new fire pit for cooking. Your regular fire pit builder, Ogg Chrysler, had hollowed out a log to make a mold in the form of a bowl and filled it with mud. The mud bowl dried, he popped it out, carved a few symbols in the sides and called it the Neon fire bowl.

You cooked a lot game in the Neon and it worked pretty good so you ask Ogg for a new one. Ogg tells you he has a brand new model you'll love. You see, after he popped the mud out of the log he carved different symbols in it.

You tell Ogg that sounds nice and you'll think it over.

Then you hear about this guy in the next village (the Hethel Tribe) named Gronk Lotus. Gronk has this thing he calls VVA. When you visit Gronk he shows you a stack of cinder blocks, a bucket of concrete mortar and a pile steel reinforcing bars. Gronk shows you a small, precise and very sturdy little fire pit he built with it called the Elise.

You tell Gronk the Elise fire pit is cute but you need to cook bigger animals so you want something much larger. Gronk says it's no problem, he can build any size or style fire pit you want using VVA. He has a new, bigger pit called APX he's been showing people.

Are you going to pass on Gronk's fire pits because "adapting a one design ... so it can be everything to every ... group sounds reall cheap" to you?


PC.

it's not even really a true SUV in the normal sense... it's considered a "cross-over" vehicle. Not a SUV, but not a 'car' either. From reading the article I don't think they have any intentions of building a Lotus badged SUV/cross-over vehicle, or anything else other than sports cars & coupes.

Yes I'd pass on Gronk's firepit... he showed me how to make my own - I'm japanese, so I'll do it cheaper and I might even carve a few of my own symbols into the cinder blocks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif

Plus I don't care for these minivans. It's not an suv, it's not a stationwagon... It's a styled minivan and it's fugly. The market is saturated with them /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

ah but the problem is: If Gronk finds out you've used his technology to build your fire pit there could be legal ramifications.... ok ok ok ... maybe not so much if you did a one off for your private use... but since you're "Japanese" you'll be marketing your fire pit and even IF it has your symbols on it, you'll certianly be hearing from Gronk's legal people around the world... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

mini-van or no mini-van the technology still allows one to create an Elise 111s (a MR 2 seater design), Europa S (a MR 2+2 design), and APX (a F-AWD "5 2" design) using the parts from the same "Family"... a level of versitility that I haven't personally heard of in the past.

Gronk vs. Japan, Inc.... hmmm...

Gronk's village laws don't apply in my village, so I'm either off scott free or I'll just not sell my cool firepits in his village - neener neener boo boo.

ISOLATIONIST!!!

Lets see....I go to the breakers yard and find some dumb, mini SUV looking thing that has Elise like underpinnings. Scrapped because the NAV system puked & is too old for the PTA "fashion show".

Now all I have to do is swap out the body with some aftermarket Devin type thing & warm up the mechanicals.

Yea......I'll go for that! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

It DOES have some appeal, doesn't it: Converting a discarded Grocery Sled into what it's potential will allow it to be.